Link Between the Environment and Society and How the Environment Has Brought About Social Change?

In this essay I shall be discussing the link between the environment and society and also how the environment has brought about social change. This essay shall also include various environmental issues faced by society. Natural environment refers to the earth’s surface and atmosphere, counting all living organisms as well as the air, water, soil and other resources essential to maintain life. Humans depend heavily on the natural environment to sustain their lives; they depend on food, clothing and shelter as well as many other essential resources. It also provides us with advanced sources of energy that humans use for the construction and operation of vehicles and other numerous electronic devises. The social practices conducted in society are harming the environment in many different ways. Pollution destroys the air as well as the ozone layer, but the societies don’t think about the consequence of their actions on future generations. Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes unsteadiness, disorder, destruction or distress to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Merriam-webster.com. 2010-08-13. Retrieved 2012-04-05. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as heat, noise or light. Pollutants, the apparatus of pollution, can be either overseas substances/energies or naturally stirring contaminants. Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution. The Blacksmith Institute issues an annual list of the world's worst polluted places. In the 2007 issues the ten top nominees are located in Azerbaijan, China, India, Peru, Russia, Ukraine and Zambia. The World's most polluted places, Blacksmith Institute - September 2007 ,PDF file. Climate change is a major and permanent change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events...

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...﻿Climate Change Beliefs and Cultural Values
Controversy surrounding the public understanding of climate change is influenced by the deficit in cognition of scientific information. As a result the knowledge deficit, people turn to cultural differences for alternative explanations. In a straight forward explanation, the difference in opinions is a result of both ignorance and culture. This view aligns with Kahan et al.’s cultural cognition thesis, according to which the political disagreement about climate change is a function of rational choice and the cultural theory, according to which the difference is a function of deep-rooted cultural differences. From personal experience, education, and analysis of Kahan et al.’s survey results, the precursor factor for the variation in perceptions of climate change is the lack of scientific understanding of the phenomenon, including its causes, impacts, and course of response actions. However, cultural beliefs act as a precipitating factor, filling the lack for the lack of knowledge by providing alternative responses.
In the general public, people do not have sufficient scientific knowledge, important in comprehending scientific evidences and avoiding being misled by distortions (Hulme, 2010). The public has limitations in the capacity to evaluate information about risk. In short, members of the public do not have knowledge of what...

...various types of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S.
Importance of Mangroves
a. Buffer Zone between the land and sea.
b. Protect the land from erosion.
c. Play an invaluable role as nature's shield against cyclones, ecological disasters and as protector of shorelines.
d. Breeding and nursery grounds for a variety of marine animals.
e. Harbor a variety of life forms like invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and even mammals like tigers.
f. Good source of timber, fuel and fodder.
g. Main source of income generation for shoreline communities like fisher folk.
h. Save the marine diversity, this is fast diminishing.
i. Purify the water by absorbing impurities and harmful heavy metals and help us to breathe a clean air by absorbing pollutants in the air.
j. Potential source for recreation and tourism.
Ecological &amp; Economical importance of mangroves
Ecological significance: -
Mangrove forests are among the most productive terrestrial eco systems and are natural and are a renewable resource. Mangroves are not a marvel just for their adaptations but also for the significant role they play in our environment.
* Mangrove ecosystem act as Buffer Zone between the land and sea.
* Mangroves protect the coast against erosion due to...

...live. Even though we get all that we need from this bountiful land, we still for some reason feel like we need to alter it. In doing so we also end up ruining the land that we thrive on. We reshape the world to fit our individual needs, and the earth just doesn’t work that way. Everything on this planet has a purpose, from the largest animal to the microscopic bacteria, and without it, it is impossible to live in harmony. In “Arizona and New Mexico”, a text written by Aldo Leopold, he talks abouthow man has developed the untouched land in the White Mountains of Arizona and killed animals in New Mexico, and now the lands are trodden on and it is not at all the way it used to be. In “A Very Warm Mountain”, a text written by Ursula K. Le Guin, she writes abouthow the earth is destroying itself because of what the human s have already done to the land, by the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens and there is nothing that we as humans can do about it. The Earth is being destroyed everyday whether it is by humans or the earth itself. There are both devastating and dramatic
People have learned how to turn wild natural areas to dram land, how to exploit minerals to adapt their needs, how to build roads and houses to expand their territories. People continuously improve their knowledge and develop technologies to improve their lives. It is...

...Changes in the Earth's Environment
The 20th century, especially in the second half, has been one of rapid
change in the Earth's environment. The impact of humans on the physical form and
functioning of the Earth have reached levels that are global in character, and
have done so at an increasingly mounting speed. 20 years ago the environment was
seen as posing a threat to the future of humanity as death rates from natural
hazards had increased dramatically since the turn of the century. The Earth
though has always been plagued by natural disasters. Now, with the world
population growing at a rapid rate more people are living in hazard prone areas.
Events which may have gone unnoticed previously, only become hazards when there
is intervention with humans and their lifestyle. With the discovery of the ozone
hole in the 1980's attention was now more focused on the threat humans were
posing to the environment. With scientific evidence to back up pessimistic
predictions of our future, most people, through media coverage, political
pressures and general concern now see the environment as being truly threatened
by human progress and in desperate need of help.
Natural hazards have been defined as "...extreme geophysical events greatly
exceeding normal human expectations in terms of their magnitude or frequency and
causing significant damage to...

...degradation is one of the biggest threats.Environmental Change and Human Health, a special section of World Resources 1998-99 in this report describes how preventable illnesses and premature deaths are still occurring in very large numbers. If vast improvements are made in human health, millions of people will be living longer, healthier lives than ever before. In these poorest regions of the world an estimated one in five children will not live to see their fifth birthday, primarily because of environment-related diseases. Eleven million children die worldwide annually, equal to the combined populations of Norway and Switzerland, and mostly due to malaria, acute respiratory infections or diarrhoea — illnesses that are largely preventable.
When the environment becomes less valuable or damaged, environmental degradation is said to occur.
There are many forms of environmental degradation. When habitats are destroyed, biodiversity is lost, or natural resources are depleted, the environment is hurt.
Environmental degradation can occur naturally, or through human processes. The largest areas of concern at present are the loss of rain forests, air pollution and smog, ozone depletion, and the destruction of the marine environment.
Pollution is occurring all over the world and poisoning the planet's oceans. Even in remote areas, the effects of marine degradation are obvious.
In some...

...EnvironmentEnvironment may refer to:
• Built environment, constructed surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging from the large-scale civic surroundings to the personal places.
• Environment (biophysical), the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism.
• Environment (systems), the surroundings of a physical system that may interact with the system by exchanging mass, energy, or other properties
• Environmental art
• Environmental determinism
• Environmental policy
• Environmental psychology
• Environmental quality
• Environmental science, the study of the interactions among the physical, chemical and biological components of the environment
• Environments (series) A series of LPs, cassettes and CDs depicting natural sounds
• Natural environment, all living and non-living things that occur naturally on Earth
• Socialenvironment, the culture that an individual lives in, and the people and institutions with whom they interact
In computing:
• Desktop environment, in computing, is graphical user interface to the computer
• Environment variable, the set of environments defined in a process
• Integrated development environment, a type...

...-------------------------------------------------
Impacts of Applications of Chemistry on Society and the Environment
-------------------------------------------------
Open Ended Investigation
Madeline De-Sanctis
INTRODUCTION
From the earliest times, Chemistry has played a pivotal role in the advancement and enrichment of civilization, although sometimes it has also caused harmful and occasional long-reaching catastrophic effects on the environment. The importance of this sphere of science can be demonstrated by the fact that entire periods in history were named the Iron Age and the Bronze Age, according to the level of chemical endeavor of that time. The content in this report will comment on the various implications of science on society and the environment, such as the use of CFCs, the use of soaps and detergents, shrinking world resources, eutrophication, heavy metal pollution and poisoning, and the role of chemists. The information in this report was obtained from a wide variety of resources, as in the bibliography, which have each been assessed for their reliability and validity.
1. CHEMISTS
In todays environment scientists can choose to specialise in numerous fields of chemistry. There are various reasons for this, including the advancement of scientific knowledge of the earth that allows scientists to research things that have never been...

...in ecosystems
Choose a recent newspaper article (within the past 3 years) that shows how humans impact the diversity of ecosystems. Summarize the article in 300 words and explain why you chose your article (be sure to include the original article as well).
#2: Plants
Evaluate the importance of the sustainable use of plants to Canadian society and other cultures
Answer one of the following questions, by conducting research. Your response should not be longer than 250 words and you should provide appropriate evidence (by citing credible references):
How does the local food movement contribute to community development?
How does the re-introduction of native plant species along river banks help to prevent land erosion?
What plant species are considered important in sustaining Canada’s growth in the agricultural sector?
How are plants being used to clean wastewater from fish farms so that the water can go back into local streams?
#3: Animals
The development and uses of technology to maintain human health, are based in part , in the changing needs of society
Choose a technology (advances in dietary products, advances in fitness equipment, advances in transplant technology, advances in diagnostic equipment, etc.). Create a timeline showing how that technology has advanced over the years, based on the changing needs of society.
#4: Genetics...